Tea
by angelaumbrello
Summary: Four women from different backgrounds, different parts of the world, and time-space continuum gather to drink, form a friendship, and discuss how to annoy Tony. Natasha, Peggy and Sharon Carter, Bobbi Morse, friendship.


**Tea.**

**Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of Marvel, and are being used without its consent for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made.**

**A/N: Someone on TV made a comment about the 'miracle on ice' hockey team being plucky Americans vs. the Russian machine, and somehow my brain came up with this. **

**This was suppose to be nothing but (hopefully) entertaining crack, but somehow some feels got into it. Even so, please try to enjoy the ride, and try not to think too hard. I would hate for your brain to explode.**

The tea shop was one of those small, almost nondescript places that one could pass a million times without ever noticing. Peggy Carter checked the address one last time before opening the door, and stepping through. A bell's gentle jingle announced her arrival, and three females heads snapped in attention.

'Peggy, flip the sign will you?' Natasha said with a wave.

The brunette did as she was bade, and when she got to the table where the redhead, and the other off-duty agents were, she was greeted by each woman. Natasha and Bobbi gave her a hug, whilst her grand-niece, Sharon, gave her a hug, and a peck on the cheek.

'Glad you could make it Aunt Peggy. We were beginning to think you got lost,' Sharon said once everyone was seated. 'I hope you don't mind, but I know what kind of tea you like, so I placed an order for you. It shouldn't be long til its ready.'

'Excellent.' Peggy said. 'I do apologize for being tardy, but I had a devil of a time finding a parking spot.'

'Don't sweat it. It's not like you were missing anything interesting,' Natasha said with a smirk. 'Just Bobbi telling us how she'd win if all four of us got into a battle to the death.'

'I would. I totally would.'

'According to whom?' Peggy asked incredulous.

'Hollywood, and history,' Bobbi said with a nod of her head, as if that settled everything.

Her response was met three eye-rolls.

'Wait a minute, wait a minute before we get too deep in the weeds, we probably should set out the ground rules,' the redhead said.

Sharon nodded in agreement before pointing to a large clear container with a slit carved in the lid. Inside were several dozen dollar bills of various denominations. 'This is a no man zone. We don't talk about them, we don't say their names, and if we slip we put a dollar bill in here.'

'Why are there 100 dollar bills in there?'

'We invited Pepper Potts to one of our meetings,' Natasha said with a snort. 'We lost track of how many times she said . . . a certain billionaire's name, so she just tossed a couple c-notes in there, and called it even.'

'Must be nice, having that kind of of money,' Peggy murmured. 'And what are you planning on doing once you've filled it?'

'Hawaii sounds nice,' Bobbi supplied. 'But we haven't decided yet.'

The Brit chuckled. 'If you keep inviting Ms. Potts, you'll be able to buy a Hawaiian island.'

'Sure, Auntie. We can put a big sign out front saying no boys allowed.'

'We'll write it in crayon, and the s will be backwards,' Natasha said.

It was at this time that that the owner of the tea shop started bringing out their tea. The two blondes and redhead went into the small kitchen in the back and helped bring out the food, and the rest of the tea. Several minutes later all four were sipping tea from their own small pots, and snacking on crustless sandwiches, and blueberry scones.

'She doesn't mind we're here after hours?' Peggy asked. She sipped her tea, and let out a satisfied little sigh. Back in the war, tea was a rare commodity, and good tea was even rarer. Here in this time, tea, like cream, and good stockings were as abundant as water.

'No, we just have to clean up after ourselves,' her niece said around a mouthful of scone. A bit of clotted cream was lodged in the corner of her mouth, and she licked it away with her tongue. 'Now lets get back on topic. There is noway you can beat a woman who could literally kill a man with her thighs, or my Aunt who killed a squadron of HYRDA agents with nothing but a pistol and her bare hands, or of course myself.'

Peggy looked down at the redhead's thighs and then back up to her face. 'You can kill a man with your thighs?' she whispered.

'Oh yes, its quite easy actually,' Natasha whispered back. 'I'll teach you, if you want, but you have to tell me how you defeated those HYRDA agents.'

'Deal,' the brunette whispered with a nod before returning to the conversation at hand. 'My niece sells herself short, as she is one of the premier marksmen – markspersons? in SHEILD. So you would be facing three highly trained, extremely dangerous women with nothing but your . . . batons?'

'You forget one thing.'

'And what's that?' Natasha deadpanned.

'I am a plucky American.'

'W-w-what?' Peggy managed to choke out.

'It's really quite simple,' Bobbi said. 'Natasha is the Russian machine. Peggy is the stuck-up Brit – '

'Russian machine?'

'Stuck-up Brit?'

Bobbi nodded her head, unmindful of the hole she was digging for herself. 'And I have history, and Hollywood to back me up.'

'And what about me?' Sharon asked. 'I was born and bred in America.'

'You were probably a WASPy overachiever. Captain of . . . stuff and things. Straight A's, honor-roll, valedictorian. I on the other hand, represent blue-color America, and therefore would win.'

'Can I implement a new rule?' Natasha asked. 'Not only do we have to put in a dollar for talking about men, but you have to put in a dollar if you say something utterly ridiculous. And I say we make it retroactive for the past 20 minutes.'

'All those in favor?' Sharon asked. Three hands shot up. 'All those opposed?'

Bobbi was the only one to raise her hand.

'The ayes have it,' Sharon said. 'Pay up.'

'I think that's at least a five-er,' Peggy said as she watched the younger blonde dig through her purse.

'Oh come on! I wasn't that bad, was I?'

'Yes, you were,' chorused Natasha, and Sharon.

Bobbi groused the whole time, but put her money in the container.

'How long have you ladies been doing this?' the brunette asked after several moments. 'You three seem more the beer and pizza type.'

'Nothing wrong with beer and pizza,' her niece said. She was eying the tiers of plates trying to decide between a mini-quiche, a mini-sandwich, or a mini-desert. 'We'll have to take you out for some real Brooklyn-style pizza one of these days.'

Sharon's aunt chuckled. 'I never said there was anything wrong with it, I just had a hard imagining the three of you at low-tea.'

'Well, if it wasn't for Maria Hill none of us would be here,' Natasha supplied. She took her time and refilled her cup, blew a few times and them took a cautious sip. 'I'm certain you've heard how I defected from Russia, right?'

Peggy nodded, and sipped her own tea.

'Well, the higher-ups were worried I'd leave and start God only knows what kind of trouble if I didn't have roots. So Maria, who's related to the proprietor of this place, decided tea and sympathy was the way to go, and she somehow roped these two into helping. Though in all honesty it was just her going on, and on about a certain-one eyed pain in the butt.'

'She's the reason we came up with the no man zone in the first place,' Bobbi said around a mouthful of quiche. 'She still owes us a couple of hundred bucks.'

'Is that why Maria isn't here?'

The three women nodded.

'Is that why I'm here? I need roots.'

The three women nodded again.

'We try to do this once a month when we're all in town,' Sharon said. 'But, as you'll find once they put you back in the field, it's sometimes very difficult to find the time.'

'Yeah, sometimes we just crash at Natasha's place and gorge on pizza and wine. And then fall asleep on the couch,' the younger blonde said with a snicker. 'I still say it'd be easier to buy a place for all four of us, or you could take advantage of a certain billionaire's offer . . .'

Natasha shook her head emphatically. 'Pepper would be a widow in a month, and that's all I'm saying on the matter.'

'I'm not saying live there. I'm saying sell the floor, and put a down payment on a nice place with four bedrooms. Between the four of us, it'll be paid for in no time.'

The remaining women exchanged looks with each.

'You know,' Sharon said slowly. 'That's kind of genius. You find the right buyer, and you could get a good payday out of it.'

'If nothing else, the look on you-know-who's face would be priceless,' Peggy said with a wide grin.

'You people are evil,' Natasha said. 'And that is why we are friends.'

'So . . .' Sharon asked.

'Break out the real estate ads, ladies. We're going house hunting.' Natasha turned to her right. 'I hope you know, that includes you Peggy. We need to get you out of those ridiculous SHIELD apartments, and into a real home.'

Peggy's smile quickly turned a little watery. 'A real home,' she repeated, and waved her hand in a weak-hearted attempt at stopping the overwhelming emotions she was feeling. 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You must think I'm some kind of weakling.'

'No one thinks that, Auntie.'

And one by one Peggy found her self encircled by three woman whom she was coming to think of more, and more as family. They could never replace the people she lost when she fell into that hole and landed 60 years into the future, but at least she wasn't alone anymore.

'You're stuck with us forever, Peggy.' Natasha whispered. 'I hope you know that.'

And the brunette did not find that a bad proposition at all.


End file.
